


Calla Lily and Gladiolus (Foxglove and Amaryllis)

by TheTartWitch



Series: Flowers Out of Season [2]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Aromantic Elizabeth Midford, Ciel loves Sebastian, Eventually Sebastian will love him back, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Side Grell/Ronald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 14:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9552167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: Ciel loves Sebastian.(Grell loves Ronald because I say so.)





	

The door clicks shut as Ciel watches, Sebastian having delivered his snack and needing to return to his chores and duties around the manor. Ciel’s fork pushes into the cake in front of him as he stares at the dark wood of the door, but doesn’t lift to his mouth yet.

There’s a tickle in his throat, and he coughs quietly into one fist, trying to keep Sebastian from hearing. One little cough is nothing, and he wouldn’t want to trouble Sebastian with nothing and have to suffer through that ‘I’m-disappointed-but-humoring-you’ look the demon has perfected over the ages.

A single petal drifts into his fist, a stark white against his pale fingers. 

He sighs deeply, ignoring the slowly deepening tug on chest, and glances back at the door before tossing the petal in his office’s trash bin. 

Wouldn’t do to trouble Sebastian over nothing.

\--

After a few days of coughing up petals while doing paperwork, Sebastian has brought him a daisy. Ciel raises an eyebrow at the flower, the meaning of the bloom coming to him quickly. 

“Innocence?” He snorts, and Sebastian settles the flower’s vase, freshly watered and with healthy soil, on the corner of his desk, smiling in that way he has, before turning to other things.

\--

The flower wilts, of course, and Sebastian removes it along with Ciel’s trash bin. He doesn’t know where his young master is finding these petals, but they litter the insides of the bin, and there’s more every day. The only daisies on the grounds grow in the gardens, far from his young master’s window. 

He shall need to investigate this matter most carefully.

\--

The first flower Ciel coughs up is not a daisy. 

It is a gladiolus, with pale pink spiraling petals. He settles it on his desk, chest heaving as he recovers from his fit, and turns to glance at the door and windows. If Sebastian had seen that, it would have been the end, but he doesn’t appear to be nearby. 

\--

Ciel begins to go for long walks in the gardens after that, leaving any coughed-up flowers to decorate the path. Lizzy comes to visit and exclaims on the exotic plant she’d almost stepped on, shoving it right up in his face. 

“Oh, isn’t it beautiful, Ciel?” She smiled at him, and he watched her with softening eyes. He was glad they made her happy, even if he wasn’t sure how contagious they might be. If she caught what he had Edward would probably make an attempt on his life.

Besides, Lizzy was a Garden. She didn’t feel romantic love and so, unable to find a perch in her lungs, the flowers bloomed among her curls like a laurel, pastel and pretty and poisonous. That probably removed any chance of Edward attacking him.

\--

_ Well _ , Ciel thought, at least he could console himself with the fact that Sebastian obviously felt at least amiably towards him: the growth in his lungs had spun to a stop. Flowers grew and fell through his lips, but didn’t press at his heart like they were supposed to. 

And if Sebastian felt as though they were friends, that was plenty enough for Ciel to be satisfied with exhaling a contagious bloom or two for the rest of his life.

\--

(Though it was  _ very _ satisfying when Grell’s own breaths huffed out amaryllis and red carnations, until the day the woman came to visit with clear breath and doting glances at her partner, the one with the infernally loud contraption that always ate Sebastian’s favorite knives like they were butter.)

**Author's Note:**

> Grell uses she/her pronouns because the creator of Black Butler has confirmed them as a trans woman and I felt like it. If I have inadvertantly offended someone or their pronouns have been confirmed to be he/him or something else, let me know and I'll change it. I don't to hurt anybody without meaning to. 
> 
> Daisy - innocence  
> Gladiolus - strength of character  
> Calla Lily - regal  
> Nasturtium - patriotism
> 
> Yellow Rose - friendship  
> Flowering Almond - hope  
> Foxglove - insincerity  
> Amaryllis - dramatic  
> Red Carnation - flashy


End file.
